Specialized Debuts Dual-Suspension Slopestyle Bike at Crankworx

Specialized invited a small group of journalists to its private mountain retreat above Whistler Village to unveil a completely new slopestyle bike that will step in for the SX that the team has been using this year. The P.Slope is designed to replicate the agility and snap of the hardtail P.3 chassis, while offering the extra stability and measure of control that rear suspension brings to the game. Rear suspension travel is 87mm, with 100mm up front. The P.Slope shares the same geometry as the competition-proven P.3, but is otherwise a new design from the ground up.

The P.Slope was first photographed at the Bearclaw Invitational under the Claw himself. The new chassis steps away from the FSR four-bar suspension that Specialized has carved its name upon and instead uses a single-pivot triangulated swingarm that drives a RockShox Monarch air shock through a seat-tube tunnel. The swingarm rotates around the bottom bracket shell to eliminate chain growth - which means that it can be run as a single speed.

The heart of the P.Slope is a low-leverage rear suspension designed to reign in the foolishly high air pressures that Slopestyle competitors use to keep the shock from blowing through its travel on landings. Most suspensions run near three-to-one leverage rates, which force slopestyle competitors to run shock spring pressures in the 300 to 340 psi range. Specialized team riders Darren Berrecloth and Martin Soderstrom reportedly can use pressures as low as 175 psi in the Slope's RockShox Monarch shock - and that the rear suspension actually works well when it finally does move.

Specialized says that the P.Slope's concentric bottom bracket pivot and matching shell were among the most highly engineered aluminum forgings that their design team has produced.

The P.Slope's single-pivot rear suspension rotates concentrically around the bottom bracket shell on a sturdy pair of needle bearings. An ISCG-05 chainguide mount is integrated to the drive side of the swingarm, so the chain guide will rotate as the suspension compresses, which should keep the chain in better alignment when a derailleur is being used. "When?" you ask. Specialized designed the P.Slope's adjustable rear dropouts to be interchangeable from single-speed to geared, so its owners have more options. The left-side rear dropout incorporates a post-type caliper mount to keep the brake aligned with the rotor as the chain is adjusted in single-speed mode. In addition, the P.Slope's BB30 press-in bottom bracket can be adapted to fit conventional threaded BB systems, or even the old-school press-fit BMX BB system. The rear hub is 135mm wide with a 10-millimeter bolt-on axle.

Two Allen bolts fix the rear dropouts in place, while chain tension is accomplished with a captured, threaded adjuster. The rear brake caliper (right) is mounted to the left dropout so it will remain in position with the P.Slope's 160mm rotor.

Specialized chose to drive the shock directly with the swingarm through a tunnel in the seat tube. The arrangement presumably keeps the P-Slope's profile slim and smooth, with no external rocker links to catch clothing or shoes as the rider performs in competition. The seat tube is hydro-formed into its final shape and afterwards, the tunnel is bored through and finished with a discrete welded insert. The result is a simple looking chassis that emulates its P.3 hardtail sibling in profile and reportedly, handles and pedals so closely that the team can switch seamlessly between the P.3 and P.Slope.

A look down the seat tube tunnel at the P.Slope's RockShox Monarch 3-way damper. The suspension configuration keeps the frame slim and smooth.

Components are primarily Specialized P-Series items, with a 750mm handlebar, a 35mm stem, and 36-spoke wheels with P-Series hubs. The fork is the venerable RockShox Argyle with a chromoly steerer. When asked about the possibility of a Specialized-made Gyro appearing on the P-series bikes, we were told that Specialized has no plans to make one, and that the team uses a Cane Creek headset to adapt to either of the two most popular existing Gyros. The P-Series stem has a built-in feature to route the front brake hose through the fork's steerer tube.

Clockwise Up front, the P.Slope runs a 100mm RockShox Argyle fork. A rider's view of the P-Series stem reveals the brake-hose routing through the stem cap. SRAM/Truvativ's Descendant crankset can be fitted with a chainguide should the owner decide to run a rear derailleur.

The Claw airs out the P.Slope at the Bear Claw Invitational. Fraser Britton photo

The final MSRP and delivery dates are still in the TBD stage although the buzz is that we should be seeing the new P.Slope later this year in bike shops, and Specialized estimated that the price of the complete bike will be a bit more than $2000 USD. We are told that complete P.Slopes will ship with an adapter kit that will include two different derailleur options as well as bottom bracket adapters. A frame-and-shock option will also be available.

Specialized 2013 Helmets

Specialized showed a new-for-2013 helmet targeted at the All-Mountain rider called the Tactic II. Designed by Motorsports helmet guru Bob lakes, the Tactic II sports a low, close fitting in-molded shell and a less aggressive profile that should play well to racers and riders who shy from XC helmet designs that appear to be styled after Acapulco's multi-tier beach-front time-share condominiums. The Tactic is tastefully sculpted to protect the head with a low back and a smooth profile. Plenty of vents should keep the rider cool in Summer and a ratcheting head band ensures a good fit. Specialized also designed in a vertical adjustment feature into the head band, and shortened the visor to provide maximum visibility. Specialized says, if you are going to buy only one helmet, then the Tactic II is it. Sizes are small, medium and large, and the price for the new Tactic II is a very affordable, $75 USD.

The Tactic II helmet is sculpted to please (and protect) All-mountain and gravity oriented riders who want a lighter-weight half-shell helmet. The rear of the helmet is low on the head and features Specialized's 'Headset SL' ratcheting headband. We liked the 'Tri Fit' buckle that spreads the retaining straps to clear most any ear types.

Launched earlier this year, the skate-style Covert helmet has an ABS plastic shell that is said to be one millimeter thinner than its competition - and 50 grams lighter. The EPS liner is designed to offer certified protection, while presenting the thinnest profile. The Covert shares the Tri Fit side buckles and is sold in an extra-small size for young riders, in addition to small, medium and large adult sizes. Eight colorways are available and the MSRP is pegged at $40 USD.

A look around the Covert helmet shows its minimal ventilation, and its true-to skate culture profile. Specialized hopes the Covert will cross outside the boundaries of cycling into most active sports.

While the carbon-shelled Dissident full-face DH lid is not new, two new colorways are offered for 2013: Shredded Clown (left) and Iced Blue on the right. Get yours now for only $350 USD

That meant old sx was a fun bike that could do many things. New sx is a bike that is actually needed by maybe 50 riders around the planet since even most fmb comps can be easily done on a hardtail (and will get you better tricks) and for fun alone the sx would be better.

RIP SX Trail....gone from Specialized line up...at least 2013. For Enduros...Only making 3 models, one is the 8grand SWorks with the new 1x11 drivetrain...the other two...one is Carbon one Alum. 168mm of rear travel now. Hey RC, I should have your job..I know more.

Looks a lot like they patterned after Commencal Absolute SX with some details taken from Dobermann. Have one of these and it does Park very well.

@spaced: CroMo aka waterpipe (only differs by a tiny percentile of Cro and Mo) is an extremely versatile building material with incredible fatigue strength compared to aluminum and carbon. It is heavier - only a drawback on roadframes - but is the ideal construction material for offroad bikeframes.

It is replacing the 100mm SX from 2012 and prior. This is a major step in the right direction. I Currently ride a Black Market Killswitch which is amazingly SICK and this sounds to be built around a similar concept. This SX is not replacing the SX Trail which is a Big Travel Freeride Bike. Something else will probebly replace it, I work at a shop that caries Specialized and I am stoked to have the opportunity to own one of the New SX set ups as soon as they are available. Great job Specialized.

You don't ride DJ or slopestyle, do you? Well... Here's the dummy-proof explanation.

Step one: BB centric pivots. As you know, this removes chain growth and allows you to run Step two, which is single geared, which eliminates the need for a derailleur.

Not having the cable attached from the handlebars to the derailleur means it's easier to do barspins and tailwhips without having to think "Okay, do I have to do this next tailwhip opposite?". For the pro riders who have access to Straitline's gyro, this means they have a perfectly awesome setup where they can barspin and tailwhip all day long. And we all know how many tailwhips riders like Soderstrom can do...

Yes, the suspension designs are a lot more difficult to get good performance out of for anything that involves more pedaling than getting up to speed, but the main concern of the design isn't about reducing pedaling ineffencies. It's about having something to cushion the 300lbs of force trying to drive the rider into the ground.

Also, in response to your point about pumping up the shock: This one's optimal pressure is considerably lower, by about 33% according to the article.

2. If you want to do tricks why would you choose an FS bike? There are very few comps that really require a FS bike. Even the biggest dirt doubles are easily doable on a ht. Drops and other features as well as rough terrain are a problem.

3. For pro riders yes but how many slope pro riders are there? I mean guys who really go to the biggest comps and run the biggest features? 93 guys have some points on the fmb world tour and many of the fmb events have features where being on a hardtail is better.

4. 300lbs of force? Again 93 pros. It's a bike for pros and that is it.

btw. Shimano is experimenting with Di2 wireless disc brakes. Wonder how long before it makes bb pivot bikes obsolete.

@Wakaba it is also less stiff. Yes it can be made stiffer but then it will be considerably heavier. I see no real advantages for fs heavy hitting bikes when a properly built burly alu bike will take a ton of beating. Not to mention there will soon be carbon slope bikes . You will know who I'm talking about if you follow the news closely

the point about the bottom bracket concentric pivot suspension is an interesting one, the old Cove G-Sport with the same pivot location was a terrible pedaller for freeride duties

I previously owned 2 different Banshee Rampant's with their short-link virtual pivot suspension, an absolutely killer bike, and you could run it singlespeed using the specific YESS chain tensioner but you still had the same vulnerability of having a tension arm clamped to a derailleur hanger, which could easily be broken in a crash (common to SS and DJ riding)

the Rampant excelled at a play bike, but I did break a healthy number of derailleur hangers on heavy landings or during crashes

there is definitely something solid about a "true" singlespeed setup for Slope Style and Dirt Jumping, compared to 1 x 9 derailleur gearing or even 1 x 1 with chain tensioning arm

can understand why Specialized have gone in this direction: their new bike / frame is designed specifically for that purpose, where a couple of pedal strokes get you moving and then you are pumping through the jumps and stunts, hardly pedalling unless you stuff a jump / stunt and need to get back to speed

its certainly not a "playbike" for all round riding including 4x and DH runs?

Pumping on a bb pivot is also not the best feeling imho. Though I understand the feeling the real market of people who need a slope specific bike is close to none. They go this way because the setup became fashionable.

As for broken derails - there are a few new improved ideas that would help that from happening. That new hanger standard that shimano pushes may be it. New saint rear is also super compact and very sturdy. I get that such a bike is needed for the pros but for the general public? Though fixes are a thing so why not ss mtb bikes.

I failed to make my point earlier: a single speed setup is more easily maintained and is more reliable than a geared drivetrain, which is extremely important to what appears to be the target audience of most DJ bikes and parts (Teenagers-young adults). That said, I have this to say:

1. Like I said before, pedaling platform and suspension bob isn't as big a deal taking the edge off of hard landings. The suspension design is comparitively weaker at damping compression, but that's not the point of what they're trying to accomplish with it.

2. Having full suspension can make riders more confident on large features, which is key in enabling them to do better tricks more smoothly. What is particularly attention-getting about this bike is that the geometry is exactly the same as a commonly used bike for DJ and SS, and once the bike leaves the ground, it doesn't matter how the suspension doesn't resist compression because the bike will return to its original geometry until the landing. Then it doesn't make a difference because the rider is either not on the bike or has his feet on the pedals and has finished the trick.

3. Look at the podium of last year's Redbull Joyride. Not a single hardtail out of three pro riders.

4. That 300 lbs of force is a part of dirt jumping. If you leave the ground, go ten feet in the air and come back down, you're going to have a lot more downforce than just your riding weight. The pros aren't naturally heavier or harsher on their landings. That's physics, not politics.

Again, It's about providing some cushion for the landing without compromising the single speed setup. The wireless brakes are nice, but if you have a geared drivetrain it doesn't matter until someone puts out a wireless derailleur/shifter mech that will stand up to DJ/SS abuse and is readily available to everybody. I don't know about you, but I've seen what happens to electronics with moving parts, that are exposed to the outdoors. If it's not bombproof (and a wireless derailleur/shifter mech, at this point, will not be), it's not worth the extra premium. The technology you're bringing up is good stuff and coming up soon, but it's still only up and coming. Specialized has released this for now, and it's more cost-effective to buy theirs or other similar products than it is to go with bleeding edge technology that's just going to get broken regularly.

@Lind TaylorBefore I go to responding to your post I think you missed an important point. I don't claim it's a bad bike for the biggest slope events. I claim the bike makes no sense for the wild public. It makes as much sense as a full blown f1 car for a sports car enthusiast. It's a VERY niche product, it's good at what it does but the market appeal is created artificially by marketing.

1. Yes and no. Yes as a specific bike for the comps the ss design makes sense for durability reasons but on the other hand some of the big comps are not 100% smooth and a bb setup offers reduced traction. Though that's less of a factor. The main point here is the bike has no realistic market.

2. Having full suss will make rider more confident but again the jumps have to be enormous for it to make it a differance. A local comp in here has 4-5m tall doubles and all the riders who do it for tricks not for fun do it on hardtails.

2b. A fs bike will take away some pop from the jump. You can't avoid it. It will require more energy and speed to get the same air. On smaller jumps where most up and comming riders get their first results that will be a problem since most of them are build for hardtails (most fmba bronze events, many silver ones, not to mention local stuff).

2c. A fs bike will always be considerably heavier which is a factor in rotations and whips.

3. Where did I claim fs bikes are bad for joyride? They are awesome for events like the joyride. Look up results of many silver and bronze events. 90% of the podiums will be on hardtails. That's what I'm talking about. The real use is extremely limited for these bikes.

4. Refer to the rest of my comment and don't speak of phisics when you use the term "lbs of force". If you speak of science please be specific.

I don't think that your main point is completely valid because, to me, releasing the P.Slope is not like selling a full blown F1 racer to a sports car enthusiast. I think it's more like an selling a Subaru STI to a rally cross racer. What I've been saying is that I think that this would sell well because it offers what a lot of people would be looking for. Yes, it is a very specific product being sold to a very niche market, but that niche market is growing fast here in the States. With more mountain bike parks popping up and a lot of them having slopestyle courses and dirt jump lines, a bike like this has its home. As a matter of personal preference, I'm far more comfortable on a short-travel FS rig like this one than I am on a hardtail DJ bike. More scientifically speaking, I ride faster and more smoothly with full suspension, despite the extra weight carried in the linkage and shock. Speaking for myself, I have more fun on a full suspension bike. I also know, however, that there are many others around here who think and feel the same.

2. It appears that this is mostly a matter of personal preference for the rider. There are those who would trade off harder rotations and whips for easier landings, in the name of having fun.
3. I apologize, I failed to mention that I was using Joyride as an example. And maybe in big comps where points for doing more difficult tricks is key, but it seems to me that for the average dirt jumper, a bike like this could be the difference between cleaning it and eating it- and therefore between paying a hospital bill or having the time of his life.

4. What do you mean by that?- "Not speaking of physics"? lbs of force COMES from physics. The best way I can think of to say it is that landing and transitioning from the jump to the landing takes a rider+bike weighing 200lbs and effectively makes him up to three times heavier. I guess I haven't made myself understood in my usage of downforce on the bike. When you jump in the air with the bike, gravity will eventually pull you back down (unless you're Anthony Messere) and then all the force from the landing has to go somewhere. A very little bit of it goes into the ground and the metals the frame are made of because they're rigid and won't give as much. A little bit more of it will go into the tire, which is inflated with air and will compress considerably more, but that still leaves a lot of the impact and recoil left to be dealt with. It's difficult and quite honestly tiring to remember to bend your knees and arms to absorb the impact. While it's still necessary to have good, smooth form and to bend your knees and elbows, having rear suspension to help deal with the impact is helpful. Science does not ignore words or user preference. This is why things like suspension forks and rear suspension designs were invented. There is a trade off to everything. What I've been saying all along is that I think that a lot of riders will be inclined to use a bike like this because it deals better with the things they don't like, allowing them to focus on what they do like.

Is that specific enough, or do I have to explain gravity and inertia to you too?

1. If it's fun but you don't trick it hard or ride as big jumps as the slope courses why do you need a single speed bike? You can have as much fun on a regular 4'' playbike. And stop telling me about how big courses are becoming. Look at the top pros - they ride hardtails on smaller events. There are very few events that make them go fs. It's for the fun and whim of it. I understand it but don't claim there is a non pro need (vs want) for it because it is preposterous.

2. You change your argument. First you speak about a bike for comps and now you are about fun and games. If it's fun the "jumps are so big you will snapp of your gears and run out of cables" argument goes away.

3. It may be the differance between cleaning it and eating it but it may also be a difference between an underrotated trick and a one landed perfectly. It goes both ways.

4. lbs of force is an antiquated term. Newtons. I really hope you are not an engineer because you seem to throw the world science and other terms like you are Carl Sagan yet prefer to explain something like this was a phisics for dummies book.

5. I'm speaking from observation about ss bikes. There was a craze in Europe for them a while ago. Everyone wanted them but after the hype cleared people went back to hardtails. If you want to learn new tricks hardtail still wins. The fully for dirt jumping works as a 2nd bike and most kids that go into ss train their tricks on dirtjumps. The only people I see with a ss fully are going for the dartmoor shine because the price in Poland of it is very competitive compared to anything else (Polish based company so it is kinda obvious it is cheaper here, same for ns). Not that's a bad bike, I like it. I just don't see the hype and I'd rather stay with a 26player (like the one you own).

there are so muchmore things that can go wrong tho, the motor could fry or you could lose the signal (you'd know about this if youve ridden near powerlines with some hr monitors), yes you can still burst a hose but not nearly as likely

yes it could work and it most likely will work, but my main point is it's hard to trust a system like that, and dura ace is not wireless they said somewhere that they went with wires to save weight so they can use one battery not four, trust me I had dura ace Di2 for a season

yes but the battery work. Even if the power consumption is 4x higher it is still very low. Short range reciver will be very light. To be honest I must ask around my uni if doing wireless brakes makes sense as my major paper since I'm an electronics eng. Given the technology it all seems very possible. I see no reason it shouldn't work. If someone like me did it it probably wouldn't be 100% reliable since that's the most expensive part of production but it would work.

How is that relevant? If you mean that the brakes can stop working suddenly so can a frame crack

Also if the guys with the di2 got thousands of km out of it it is fair to assume you can get at least half a season on single battery. How hard is it to check that? Not to mention every trail you ride you never touch the brakes until the first super steep unstoppable part?

So you know how mentally everyone will approach the idea? Professor Xavier is that you?

btw. People were also freaked about carbon in dh a few years ago so your technolog scare argument is invalid. It will go away with time because 99% of the riding community is really easy to sway with marketing and after they go test it the remaining group will go for it too.

I'm sure Dobermann's pretty stoked about this. Loads of people were hating on the pivot design when Dobermann put out the Le Pink and now Specialized puts out pretty much the same bike and everyone's like OMG, SICK DESIGN! Kind of annoying, but I always thought that it was one of the nicest slopestyle full-suspension bikes out there, so it's good that it's at least getting attention.
Props to Dobermann!

Except for the fact Dobermann's on the verge of bankruptcy... and they're unlikely to see any positive benefit from this. For that matter, Kona and Cove and others were doing concentric BB pivoting swingarms LONG before Dobermann was even started.

Dobermann are a small company. They will probably always be a small company.
Doesn't detract from the pride Fred and gabo must feel at designing a bike 4 years ahead of a company with 500x the design budget and resources!

Kona were one of the first companies to build a slope specific frame. Also, pinkbike what the f*ck? Its not foolish to run such pressures; its necessary. Bmx mid bb's aren't 'old skool'. Infact they are the best type of bb much cleaner looking and longer lasting than all that external shit.

Trek will not catch on. They threw a fit when I pointed out on their Facebook page that they needed to stop advertising their Remedy SS as "the best slopestyle bike ever" when it wasn't available to the public.

My specialized tires are rated to 65 psi. does that mean i should never cross it? It's recommended maximum. Tires are rated for much higher, it wouldnt make sense if they weren't. Shock ratings may be different in a sense, but many bikes come from the factory with pressures this high, so it is nothing new to run high psi in a shock of a slope bike.

If you come here to do some dick slinging, get a life. I'm getting to the point that these shocks rarley compress, they only need them to compress on a bad landing. If they compress at all during a run on a slope course with good landings, then the riders are losing speed and they might not be able to clear the next feature. It is more and more common for a frame to come with a custom valved shock to handle the high pressures these riders run. It is nice to see spesh doing something different.

The shock does not need to compress fully to double the air pressure in the positive chamber. notice that the image of the (probably) fully compressed shock has 700PSI in the positive side, while the resting shock is at 200PSI: I hesitate to get into the math of it, as I know I'm bad at it, but i believe the formula is: half the volume, double the pressure. when you start calculating the resting volume of the air can, vs volume at different positions in the stroke of the shock, you can see that pressure can ramp up quickly in the air can, and the lower the volume, the more pronounced the effect is. These bikes have small amounts of travel, and shorter stroke shocks, so how quickly the pressure will ramp up will be increased.

Take RC's example again: if that shock is rated for 200 PSI, and you run it at 400, it will hit 800 PSI well before you're at full travel, higher than the manufacturer ever designed it for. if you take it to his fully compressed stroke, the shock will be under 1400 PSI of outward pressure.

As for your statement about the shock never compressing, hogwash: you put compressive force on a spring, it compresses. the amount may vary, but as we learned above, it won't take much to get higher than the rated pressure for the shock. If it didn't compress at all, there'd be no need for this frame: they'd just ride hard tails.

Even if, as you said, it only compresses when they take a bad landing, witness what sometimes happens to tubes in exactly that scenario: explosive decompression. You'll notice that they get the f*ck away when that happens, too: and that's just a piece of rubber.

Your tire comparison doesn't work, either: Tires are made of a material with elastic properties: when you put compressive force on a tire, the rest of the tire that's not touching the ground can expand to make up for the compression at the contact patch.

Dude, I completely understand what you're saying, but you're missing the point that this is slopestyle. All you need is stiff. If companies shocks weren't able to handle the pressure, they wouldn't be revalving them to be set up stiff with high pressure. Many bikes come set with high pressure. That's all I'm saying, I don't get why you can't agree with this. Obviously there is science in this stuff, and i'm bad at science, but slopestyle is not rocket science.

Attempt to be a winner? Lol. I'm trying to tell you something that exists in our world, yet you can;t accept it for some reason.

There's a wall of text above this explaining why you're wrong, plus the fact that Specialized went out of their way to make sure you don't have to run high pressure on this very bike, yet your answer is: "I'm not good at science, but i say it's this way, so you should acknowledge that I'm right."

You're wrong, for very basic reasons. read what i posted above, or don't: i don't really care. you were given the opportunity learn something, if you don't, not my problem.

I'm saying it's that way, because it is. I am agreeing with what you're saying, but stating that companies do custom valve shocks to hold high pressure. I did learn something, thank you, but you're simply nit picking the overall idea I'm trying to convey here. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm not saying the science is wrong, I'm not saying it's dumb that Spesh did this, I'm just saying slope bikes have these shocks. Holy fuck.

ok, one more reply then I'm done: What does valving have to do with how much pressure a piece of aluminum can withstand before it fails? The answer is: absolutely nothing. custom valving does absolutely nothing to beef up the structural integrity of the air can. repeatedly pushing the air can past the the amount of pressure it's been designed to withstand could cause it to fail.

Just because people are doing it, especially pros who get their shit free, doesn't make it a smart idea. Pro's do all sorts of things that someone who buys a bike and keeps it for more than one season shouldn't do. running your shock well in excess of it's max pressure is one of those things.

pros used to drill holes in their brake levers to lighten them up for races. average people who tried the same thing ended up with bent levers, because they'd weakened the lever too much. pro's got free replacements when they did this, everybody else had to buy new levers. some people probably had horrible crashes because the lever failed exactly when they needed it: when they were squeezing it real hard. This is the same shit.

Obviously custom valving does nothing with the structural integrity, but as you said, pros have sponsors. People on the other hand warranty their stuff. The only thing custom valving can do is release pressure during hard compression to release the air. People still drill their levers by the way lol. Also, I never said it was smart, but there are a lot of dumb people who call them selves "mechanics".

I'm not impressed. This would be the bike that Doberman had released if they had access to Hydroforming. That shock is going through a regressive leverage rate and it produces less wheel travel than a Killswitch, i was expecting more from Spesh. Although I'm sure they'll sell thousands of them.

Dude it's a slopestyle bike.... the suspension is basically a bumper for the massive shit they huck. They hardly need advance pedalling platforms and more travel when all they set out to do is take the edge off some of the landings and a tit-bit of preload for the take offs not to mention it's a wee bit more stable when the terrain is a little roughed up.
Your point is completely moot.

Well it's not about platforms or pedaling. If your running 100mm travel up front you better run the same at the back at least to keep things balanced, i'm sure it only has 87mm of travel because they couldn't fit any more wheel travel into that geometry without having the wheel hitting the saddle. Both the Killswitch and Le Pink feature 100mm at the back and still managed to keep the short chainstays, so that's why I think Spesh could have done a better job.

I can't tell if you're being serious or not now. You're actually arguing that a mere 13mm is the difference between landing a jump and not? Do you know how many bikes, of all disciplines, have differing suspension amounts front and back? God forbid you ever ride a V10... you might crash with the extra 2" of travel at the back.

Lastly, you're forgetting that all of those bikes require you to run the shock at far too high pressure... one of THE main points of this new frame was to reduce the leverage so you could run the shock at a less retarded PSI level.

The Doberman, Kona Bass and Dartmoor Shine all run a 2:1 leverage ratio which is actually lower than the Specialized (assuming this frame uses a 1,5" stroke shock). My point was always about its geo and shock rate, and I was comparing it to its competitors (people already have posted below a pretty good list of them) which all seem to run the same travel front and back, so I'll assume it is a good thing on this type of bikes.

So this is a remake of the Black Market Killswitch, Dobermann Le Pink, Dartmoor Shine, NS Soda, DMR Bolt, Diamondback, Kona Cowan DS/Bass, and many more. Nothing new, they're just many years late... Why would anyone buy this thing with the weird and useless 'new' bb size and axle size, when there are dozens of other singlespeed slopestyle bikes that don't have these downsides? IMO it's a simple remake, only they added some annoying bugs so they made it worse

Late for what? It's simple economics.... big players like Specialized wait to jump in when they see enough market growth and a good potential return on their investment. They make their money back on volume, and the SS market is probably just barely big enough to bother with at this point.

Euro 68/73, American/Mid, Spanish, Italian, BB90, BB92, Euro 83, BB30, PF30, BBright. Those are the BB "standards" I know of. Not counting the proprietary Specialized and Cannondale bottom bracket designs because they are specific to their own brands.

granted, however how many of those are actually used on a regular basis? this bike has a perfectly normal BB for its application, and most other frames within a certain genre of riding tend to stick to one BB standard (for example I've never owned a bike that didn't have a 68/73mm BB.)

Innovating is something different than coming with another new size. Innovation IMO is that there was a problem (for example you can't run singlespeed on a fully without running a chaintentioner), and the solution is that the pivot is made around the bb. But coming up with new sizes is like inventing a new seatpost size. There are already dozens of sizes which all work great. There is no problem, just a new "solution" that improves nothing, it just sucks that you can only buy that one 100.- dollar seatpost which isn't any better, but is only 4x as expensive because no one wants that size except for the person who has that one particular frame. 10mm axles are super strong if you have decent ones. No need to beef that up if it's already plenty strong. Aswell do euro/mid/spanish bb's work great. Why would we want a new size?

12mm axles are much stiffer than 10mm if you ride downhill (again, something you wouldn't know as you only ride street/dirt).innovation is not only changing something if there is an inherent problem. There wasn't a problem as such with the playstation 1. Th graphics weren't great etc, but nothing really WRONG with it. But how much better is the PS3?It's the same with bikes and pretty much everything else you can think of. Don't be so closed minded. If bike manufacturers were as closed minded as you guys, we'd all still be riding fully rigids down fire roads and dirt jumping wouldn't exist.

How am i missing the point on a dirt/slopestyle bike? DH is something totally different (bike-wise and riding-wise). Because of the super long chainstays on DH bikes and all the pivots and bearings the rear end is way more flexy than in a stiff rigid triangle like on hardtails and on this bike. For that reason it doesnt need to get beefed up to compensate for the flexy frame. Same as with the difference in (stiff) rigid forks and (flexy/moving/bouncing) suspension forks: for suspension forks and hard riding you need to beef the fork up with a 20mm axle to keep it from flexing and breaking, while a rigid fork is already is stiff enough and a bolt-on 10mm hub will do perfectly. So 20mm axles on suspension forks and 12mm axles on a DH bike are in improvement because they fix a problem (too flexy and easy to break), while 20mm axles on rigid forks and 12mm axles on rigid triangles are useless IMO.

I'm not narrow-minded, I just don't see the point in introducing new sizes when the old sizes were doing fine. Now youre comparing the invention of suspension to introducing another seatpostsize. Suspension fixes a lot of problems and makes you go faster. The new bb and 12mm axle don't (in this particular case)

You're both missing the point entirely, this is a slope bike, not a dirt jump bike, probably subject to even bigger forces than a downhill bike. There is room for improvement on everything. If engineers just said "oh well, that'll do" to everything that just seemed alright or adequate, where would we get? Nowhere.

Again, as a DH rider you should know that there's a big difference in downhillbikes and freeridebikes suspensionwise. This is basically a dirt bike with some extra suspension to absorb the bigger impacts. DH is not made to absorb big impacts but to smoothen out the rough trails (you should know that). And youre saying we're missing the point what it's all about because of the intention it's made for. That's NOT what it's about here. The point is it has a stiff rigid closed rear triangle so unlike the open moving downhillbike rear ends (which mostly arent even triangles and are a lot longer) which flex a lot, theres no need to compensate for the flex of the DH frame, but you can easily run a 10mm axle like on a hardtail. you're going really offtopic and stop watching to the physics part of it and pay too much attention to the fairytale-marketing-stories. Simple yes or no question: do you understand my point?

"Specialized says that the P.Slope's concentric bottom bracket pivot and matching shell were among the most highly engineered aluminum forgings that their design team has produced."............. NS did the concentric bb on the soda slope better... Just my opinion...

Why are so many people hating on this? It might LOOK like a Dobermann but it ISNT a Dobermann, it's a P3 with suspension. 1 of the best, most proven hardtails out. Meaning you can take it more places but do exactly the same stunts as you would on a P3. I dont see a single problem with that...There may not be a bigger market for slopestyle bikes as there is for anything else, but there is still a market. And still kids that will have their parents buy them 1 because their faveourite riders are riding them. Be closed minded and hate it if you like, but now i know what i want for my slope bike next season...

I didn't say most sold.. I said 1 of the most PROVEN hardtails ever made, that just got better. It may not be the BEST. But it's been pretty damn flawless geometry wise for years compared to most other big name companies hardtails. And for 2013 it's been changed up again to make it better suit dirtjump and park riding.
I've always felt that the perfect slopestyle bike should basically be a hardtail with a shock in it. To feel exactly the same as a hardtail, in size and geo. So to me, this is a flawless design

Did anyone else notice that the sliding dropout design is almost exactly the same as the Santa Cruz Jackal? Not that I'm complaining because having the adjusting bolt facing to the back makes adjusting your chain and wheel that much easier.

It is replacing the 100mm SX from 2012 and prior. This is a major step in the right direction. I Currently ride a Black Market Killswitch which is amazingly SICK and this sounds to be built around a similar concept. This SX is not replacing the SX Trail which is a Big Travel Freeride Bike. Something else will probebly replace it, I work at a shop that caries Specialized and I am stoked to have the opportunity to own one of the New SX set ups as soon as they are available. Great job Specialized.

Yaa go spec....!! That a sweet bike and pivot on the bb is what you need for real jumps. Look like the dob and old kona cowan jump bike. Spec always make it like and tight but hopefully no flex this time. The spec helmets are dope, should give one a try. Spec full of suprises in 2013, they better come strong with a new sx trail bike 180mm???????

Not sure where you read that Specialized themselves have created a game changer. And in fact the marketing is great. It has caused you to pay attention to the new bike, driven you to tell everyone here your opinion (Which obviously matters) and cause quite a stir in the community. love it or hate it, this bike will sell way better than the doberman. Good job Marketing department!

Secondly, I'm glad you agree. Their marketing is always top notch and manages to suck in the masses time and time again, convincing them an "S" on the headtube makes their bike innately superior to all others. Their bikes meanwhile, are always pretty much equal with all other big brands and never take any risks or innovate in a meaningful way.

Problem is in regards your opinion on concentric BB pivot bikes is that you're only speaking from your limited experiance. Going by reviews of the Devinci Wilson, they've managed to get the concentric BB pivot to work very well by combining it with a split-pivot at the back (a la Trek/Fisher ABP). Mind you it seems to me (from my limited understanding of physics) to get a concentric BB pivot / split-pivot combo rear suspension to perfectly cancel out any bobbing potential without negative bobbing potential too, one would need the bike setup with the crank & cog wheels of the same size diametre. Meaning hub gears, but such a pivot combo wouldn't need a chain tensioner either, making an 11 speed Alfine hub perfect. Mind you the gearing would be bloody low, maybe one of those Schlump High Speed Drives could be fitted in the bottom bracket (a dual range planetary gearset for fitting in the bottom bracket see - www.schlumpf.ch/hp/hsd/hsd_engl.htm )

I'll probably get flamed for saying this (to each their own), but I think Rocky Mountain stole the show with their 2013 Slayer SS announcement. I think it looks better aesthetically. This Specialized design reminds me of the original Cove g-spot with the centric BB pivot. That is cool in itself, but the way the shock goes through the hole in the seat stay looks cheesy to me aesthetically. I'm not saying it isn't effective. This is my opinion of course, not fact. Perhaps others will find this bike to be beautiful. And before I get flamed for just judging by "looks", my argument is why not make a functional bike look good too. Of course, subjective opinion again.

"most highly engineered aluminium forgings that their design team has produced", They're just saying that it's one of the highly engineered parts they've produced by the process of forging, they don't try to claim they invented it or anything.

bike looks so sick! i would get one for sure if i had the money but i can barely run one bike.its cool to see more and more companies to produce ss bikes although treks ss bike is still the dream of all ss bikers. but for this little money this bike seems to be a very good compromise

This seems more like a slopestyle bike rather than the sx trail. The sx just looks like a downhill frame with less travel. I dont quite know the weight difference between the two but im glad specialized is making a complete, full suspension, dirtjumper.

Amazing how a little branding, some sparkly colors and the use of the word slopestyle bike can cause people to go haywire. At the end of the day its a single pivot bike and it will suit its purpose well as a SS bike, but thats about it, there is nothing new or innovative with this design, it will never pedal like an SX. At least Trek was able to keep there ABP technology and build there SS bike around that base. I really hope they don't do away with the SX as these are two tottaly different bikes.
In the land of milk and honey you can sell anything to anyone if its branded right and accompanied with enough hype and specialize has done a great job of that with this bike by launching it at Clawworks and doing the official press launch at Crankworx,......

Love that specialized is catching on to more interesting suspension systems from dobberman and other companies. Normally I dont like specialized very much but it seems they're pulling forward in the dj industry.

C'mon Richard... the 3:1 ratio was the norm twenty years ago and I'm sure its what you used on the Profloater, but it hasn't been the case for most brands in a long time. Not when the most common shock stroke / length is the 6.5" eye to eye and 1.5" stroke, and most commonly seen on 3.9" travel bikes (that'd be a 2.6 : 1 ratio). Same shock length and stroke are is used on numerous 80mm travel bikes.

You all forgot about norco. They had a slope bike in the 4x and the norco empire with the right setup is easy a slope bike plus i believe something like the 4x is coming back in 2013
Go norco youyr bikes are the best and always will be

Yes but the DMR was designed for all of that, hence also pivoting at the bottom bracket to allow for a single speed set up, with adjustable dropouts to allow for multiple set ups. I was just saying that its hardly anything new, its actually something that they have been slow to develop and get out there to people.

It's just a highly "specialized" model for a highly specialized market segment. There's no point in a high seat post on a bike like this... if you want to ride singletrack you're much better off with a different design anyway.

Looks like something a lower end company would put out. The previous designs of the SX looked great and geo and FSR was awesome dont know why they did away with it and put in this. Im super bummed they put out the SX for this comming year, they could've at least made something more impressive.

It's a pure SS bike... solely for contests as far as I can tell. FSR doesn't make sense when you want 0 chain growth and only care about taking the edge off big landings. I don't think this is meant as a replacement for any of their other bikes.

I'm with you on that account. For a company well known for litigating anything that even slightly resembles on of their bikes or designs, I find it strange that they'd copycat Dobermann Bikes. Nevermind, it makes perfect sense, the big S's legal department most likely has 3x more employees than Dob does in total.